Hindus to seek statue at Oklahoma Capitol if law changes

Published 10:52 am, Tuesday, March 15, 2016

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A Hindu organization plans to increase its efforts to put a deity statue on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds if voters approve a proposed change to the state's constitution.

The Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/1LotXou ) reports that the Legislature has approved versions of a question that seeks to delete language from the constitution that prohibits the use of public money or property for the support or benefit of religion.

The language was cited in a recent court decision that removed the Ten Commandments from the Capitol grounds. If the proposal becomes law, a November statewide vote would be held on whether to remove the wording, and pave the way to return the Ten Commandments to the Capitol.

Universal Society of Hinduism president Rajan Zed said that if the change is approved, the organization would renew its request to place a statue of Lord Hanuman on the property.

"Hindus would love to request placing a statue of Lord Hanuman, which might become the first Hindu religious monument on public land in USA," Zed said.

Zed has written to the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission in the past to request approval of a statue of Lord Hanuman at the Capitol.

The commission also received a request from the Satanic Temple in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to erect a satanic statue at the Oklahoma Capitol. When the state Supreme Court ruled against the Ten Commandments monument last June, that group's leaders said they would no longer pursue their request.

The Ten Commandments monument was installed at the Capitol in 2012 and removed last fall.